the problem is revenues. >> senator thune, if we go over the fiscal cliff, it will have very real impact on americans and their pocketbooks. a lot of people who live outside washington watch this process and say, these guys have a self-imposed dead line on a very serious issue they may not meet. can you restore any confidence to the american people that they should believe in what you all are doing there? >> sure. i think it's encouraging that people are talking, willie. there is an agreement out there that can be reached, but, you know, as i said before, you can't do this just with revenues. the tax increases that would hit middle income americans and small businesses would be disastrous for the economy. even if the president got everything he wanted on taxes, it generates enough revenue to pay for less than a week of government spending next year alone. so the question is, what do we do for the other 358 days of the year? well, we have to do something on the spending side of the equation. but the tax increases need to be averted. they need to be avoided. they can be. i think in the end